Anesthetic evaporators for dispensing anesthetics frequently operate according to the “bypass principle,” according to which a partial gas flow is branched off from a bypass line connecting the evaporator inlet and the evaporator outlet and is enriched with anesthetic vapor in an evaporator chamber. The partial gas flow enriched with anesthetic vapor is again mixed at the evaporator outlet with the gas flow flowing through the bypass line via a dispensing valve, which is connected to a setting wheel for setting the concentration of the anesthetic released. Helically arranged wick tubes, through which the partial gas flow is passed, are used to evaporate the anesthetic in the evaporator chamber. A tubular wick jacket, which presses the wick tube onto a wick holder, on the one hand, and dips with its free end into the liquid anesthetic, on the other hand, and transports anesthetic to the wick tubes by capillary action, is pulled over the wick tubes. On the way through the wick tube, the partial gas flow is enriched with anesthetic vapor up to the saturation limit. An anesthetic evaporator of this type is known from DE 25 07 262 B (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,075,297 which is incorporated by reference).
A wick tube as is used in the prior-art anesthetic evaporator can be manufactured at a high cost and requires a rather substantial manufacturing effort. Thus, wick material must at first be placed around a coil and fastened in the wick tube. The wick tube is then placed round the wick holder of the anesthetic evaporator such that the gas inlet for the partial gas flow into the evaporator chamber is located at the beginning of the wick tube and is not obstructed by wick material. When the wick jacket is subsequently pushed over the wick tube, the wick tube must not be displaced in relation to the wick holder.